Performance of SINR Based Handover Among Heterogeneuous Networks in MIH Environments Ammar A. Bathich, Mohd Dani Baba, Ruhani Ab Rahman, Muhammad Ibrahim Centre for Computer Engineering Studies, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia ammarbat2003@g ma il.co m, mdani074@salam.uitm.edu.my Abstract— The great increase in user demand to roam among various wired and wireless communications networks without affecting the signal quality has attracted many researchers to investigate about the best handover decision criteria that promote seamless handover. IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH) standard can be considered to be the best environment for handling both horizontal and vertical handover. In this work, we propose a new decision criteria based on MIH signalling among WLAN and WiMAX networks which depend on the received Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR) instead of the traditional Received Signal Strength (RSS) criteria. In order to provide multimedia QoS inside the integrated network environment, the proposed VHD provides the knowledge of the achievable bandwidth from both networks by using the received S INR. Simulation-based outputs along with analytical results have confirmed that our proposal would offer the end user with better performance during the handover stage. Keywords-component; SINR; IEEE 802.21; vertical handover; QoS; MIH; heterogeneous network I. INTRODUCTION In today’s world, the increasing demand for communication services anywhere and anytime is leading to a rapidly growing tendency towards the convergence of heterogenous wireless access technologies. A number of access networks can be integrated to create a seamless system, which is known as the Fourth Generation (4G) wireless system [1, 2]. By achieving the 4G system, a Mobile Terminal (MT) can roam among various wireless networks in a high data rate, besides using several services together due to wide bandwidth offered [3-8]. Amongst different available wireless access networks, handsets or MTs that have the ability to decide and choose the most preferred network, as stated in the 4G literature. IEEE802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) [9], IEEE802.16 Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) [10], Bluetooth [11], satellite systems [12] and cellular telephony networks are the most common access systems in 4G systems. Switching smoothly among heterogeneous access networks without any interruptions is called the Vertical Handover VH [13]. In a significant step towards fulfilling this goal, the IEEE 802.21 standard provides a framework to support systems for enabling seamless vertical handovers [14]. While IEEE 802.21 only creates the overall framework, the implementation of the actual algorithms has been left to the system designers. Therefore, to guarantee the success of this framework, it is crucial to develop effective vertical handover decision (VHD) algorithms. Many vertical handover decision algorithms have been proposed in literature, most of them have designed their VHD algorithms depending on the signal strength recieved by the mobile terminal, in which handover decisions are made by comparing the received signal strength with the preset threshold values. These algorithms use the signal strength as a basic handover decision indicator called Received Signal Strength (RSS) algorithms. However, the data rate achieved by a mobile terminal is related to its Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR), which is a function of the interference in the network, as well as the distance between Base Station (BS) or Access Point (AP) to the mobile terminal. RSS-based VHD occurs when the mobile terminal receiving power reaches a threshold value regardless of the multimedia QoS needed; this means that the RSS-based VHD does not support the user QoS. On the other hand, SINR-based VHD supports multimedia QoS by depending on the achievable data rate which leads to a seamless vertical handover. II. MEDIA INDEPENDENT HANDOVER MIH MIH defines a logical entity, MIHF, located on layer 2.5 between link layer and network layer of the OSI model. It provides a framework that allows interaction between higher layers and lower layers. The MIHF supports three types of services: Media Independent Event Services (MIES), Media Independent Command Service (MICS), and Media Independent Information Service (MIIS). The MIES aims to provide and to predict link changes such as LINK UP, LINK DOWN, LINK GOING DOWN, etc. These events are propagated from lower layers to upper layers through the MIH 2013 IEEE 3rd International Conference on System Engineering and Technology, 19 - 20 Aug. 2013, Shah Alam, Malaysia 978-1-4799-1030-4/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE 136